T20 World Cup 2022: Deep Dasgupta names his picks for semi-finals

The eighth edition of the T20 World Cup is moving to its business end as the quest for sealing the semi-final spots is heating up in the ongoing tournament in Australia. While it is hard to pick an outright favorite to make it to the semis, former Indian wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta has named South Africa, India, New Zealand, and England to make it out of their respective groups.

The tussle for securing a semi-final birth has been getting trickier with each passing day, with several crucial fixtures taking place in the coming days. The cricketer-turned expert Deep Dasgupta has picked his favorites to make it to the semi-finals of the ongoing ICC mega event. Despite Australia having relatively easier fixtures, he went with England and New Zealand to qualify from their group.

"It is extremely tough in Group 1, it was a big win for England against New Zealand, but I still think New Zealand are favorites to go through the semi-finals, along with England. But Australia has got favorable matches so it is tough to call. From the other group, I think South Africa and India will go through to the next stage," Deep Dasgupta said in the 'BatBricks7 Run Ki RunNeeti' live show on CricTracker.

Deep Dasgupta feels the odds are stacked against defending champions Australia

The former Indian cricketer praised Jos Buttler's England who boosted their chances of progressing through to the next round after securing a crucial victory against New Zealand. Although the defending champions Australia are still in contention to make it to the semis, Deep Dasgupta highlighted the fact that nobody has been able to defend their T20 crown in the tournament's glorious history to date.

"It is not a surprise that Australia might not make it to the semi-finals since no one has been able to defend the T20 title. If you think about it the odds are stacked against them as none of the hosts have won the tournament in front of their home crowd either," he added.